Display device including touch sensor and manufacturing method thereof

ABSTRACT

A display device includes a display panel including a plurality of pixels, a touch sensor unit provided on the display panel, and including a touch sensing area in which a touch sensor is provided and a non-sensing area around the touch sensing area, and a polarizer provided on the touch sensor unit and bonded to the touch sensor unit, an edge side of the polarizer and an edge side of the touch sensor unit being aligned.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/991,174 filed May 29, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/749,312, filed Jun. 24, 2015, the entirecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

Korean Patent Application No. 10-2014-0166442, filed on Nov. 26, 2014,in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and entitled: “DisplayDevice Including Touch Sensor and Manufacturing Method Thereof,” isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

Embodiments relate to a display device including a touch sensor and amanufacturing method thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art

A display device, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organiclight emitting diode (OLED) display, and an electrophoretic display,includes an electric field generating electrode and an electro-opticalactive layer. For example, the organic light emitting device includes anorganic emission layer as the electro-optical active layer. The fieldgenerating electrode is connected to a switch such as a thin filmtransistor to receive a data signal, and the electro-optical activelayer converts the data signal to an optical signal to display an image.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only forenhancement of understanding of the background of the invention andtherefore it may contain information that does not form the prior artthat is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill inthe art.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are directed to a display device, including a display panelincluding a plurality of pixels, a touch sensor unit provided on thedisplay panel, and including a touch sensing area in which a touchsensor is provided and a non-sensing area around the touch sensing area,and a polarizer provided on the touch sensor unit and bonded to thetouch sensor unit, an edge side of the polarizer and an edge side of thetouch sensor unit being aligned.

An edge side of the polarizer and an edge side of the touch sensor unitmay be provided inside an edge side of the display panel.

The light blocking member may cover the edge of the display panel.

A touch wire connected to the touch sensor may be provided in thenon-sensing area, and an internal edge of the non-sensing area may bealigned with an internal edge of the light blocking member or isprovided inside the internal edge of the light blocking member.

A touch substrate included in the touch sensor unit may include at leastone of a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) film, a non-elongationpolycarbonate (PC) film, and a triacetyl cellulose (TAC) film.

The polarizer may include a circular polarizer.

An end of the touch wire may form a pad, and the polarizer may include acompressor hole exposing the pad.

The display device may further include a touch driver connected to thetouch sensor unit and separated from an edge side of the polarizer bygreater than a predetermined distance.

A plurality of touch electrodes may be provided in the touch sensingarea, the plurality of touch electrodes may include a plurality of firsttouch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes that areseparated from each other, do not overlap each other, and arealternately disposed, the first touch electrodes may be arranged in afirst direction and may be connected to each other by a plurality offirst connectors, and the second touch electrodes may be arranged in asecond direction that is different from the first direction and may beconnected to each other by a plurality of second connectors.

The display device may further include an insulating layer providedbetween the first connector and the second connector and insulating thefirst connector from the second connector.

The first connector may be provided at a same layer as the first touchelectrode and may be integrated with the first touch electrode, and thesecond connector may be provided at a different layer from the secondtouch electrode.

A plurality of touch electrodes may be provided in the touch sensingarea, and the plurality of touch electrodes may be provided between atouch substrate and the polarizer.

A plurality of touch electrodes may be provided in the touch sensingarea, and the plurality of touch electrodes may be provided between atouch substrate and the display panel.

Embodiments are also directed to a display device, including a displaypanel including a plurality of pixels, a touch sensor unit provided onthe display panel, and including a touch sensing area in which a touchsensor is provided and a non-sensing area around the touch sensing area,a touch wire connected to the touch sensor being provided in thenon-sensing area, and a polarizer provided on the touch sensor unit andbonded to the touch sensor unit, an internal edge side of thenon-sensing area being aligned with an internal edge side of the lightblocking member or being provided inside the internal edge of the lightblocking member.

An edge side of the polarizer and an edge side of the touch sensor unitmay be provided inside an edge side of the display panel.

A touch substrate included in the touch sensor unit may include at leastone of a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) film, a non-elongationpolycarbonate (PC) film, and a triacetyl cellulose (TAC) film.

The polarizer may include a circular polarizer.

Embodiments are also directed to a method for manufacturing a displaydevice, the method including providing a base substrate on which a touchsensor is formed, forming a plurality of compressor holes in a basepolarizer, bonding the base substrate and the base polarizer, cuttingthe base substrate and the base polarizer by a unit of a cell andforming a plurality of touch sensor units and a plurality of polarizersthat are bonded, and compressing a touch driver on the touch sensor unitthrough the compressor hole.

The providing of a base substrate on which the touch sensor is formedmay include forming a plurality of touch electrodes and a plurality oftouch wires on a mother substrate, and cutting the mother substrate by aunit of the base substrate.

Compressor holes arranged in a direction from among the plurality ofcompressor holes may be connected to each other.

The compressor holes may be separated from each other.

The touch driver may be separated from an edge side of the polarizer bygreater than a predetermined distance.

The base substrate may include at least one of a cyclic olefin polymer(COP) film, a non-elongation poly carbonate (PC) film, and a triacetylcellulose (TAC) film.

The polarizer may include a circular polarizer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features will become apparent to those of skill in the art by describingin detail example embodiments with reference to the attached drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a display device accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a top plan view of a touch sensor of a display deviceaccording to an example embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an enlarged view of part of a touch sensor includedin a touch sensor unit according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a touch sensor of FIG. 3with respect to a line IV-IV.

FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a display device accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a display device accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a process for forming a conductive layer on a mothersubstrate in a process for manufacturing a touch sensor unit accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates a layout view of a plurality of cell areas on amother substrate in a process for manufacturing a touch sensor unitaccording to an example embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates a top plan view of a touch sensor in an intermediateprocess for manufacturing a touch sensor in a process for manufacturinga touch sensor unit according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a touch sensor in anintermediate process shown in FIG. 9 with respect to a line X-X.

FIG. 11 illustrates a top plan view of a touch sensor in an intermediateprocess next to a process shown in FIG. 9 in a process for manufacturinga touch sensor unit according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a touch sensor in anintermediate process of FIG. 11 with respect to a line XII-XII.

FIG. 13 illustrates a top plan view of a touch sensor in an intermediateprocess next to a process of FIG. 11 in a process for manufacturing atouch sensor unit according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 14 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a touch sensor in anintermediate process of FIG. 13 with respect to a line XIV-XIV.

FIG. 15 illustrates a top plan view of a touch sensor in an intermediateprocess next to a process of FIG. 13 in a process for manufacturing atouch sensor unit according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 16 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a touch sensor in anintermediate process of FIG. 15 with respect to a line XVI-XVI.

FIG. 17 illustrates a top plan view of a process for cutting a mothersubstrate on which a touch sensor is formed into a plurality of basesubstrates in a process for manufacturing a touch sensor unit accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 18 illustrates that a protection film is attached to a rear side ofa base substrate in a process for manufacturing a touch sensor unitaccording to an example embodiment.

FIG. 19 illustrates a top plan view of a base polarizer according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 20 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a process for bonding abase substrate on which a touch sensor according to an exampleembodiment is formed and a base polarizer.

FIG. 21 illustrates a top plan view of a base substrate and a basepolarizer that are bonded in a process of FIG. 20.

FIG. 22 illustrates a cross-sectional view for cutting a base polarizerand a base substrate that are bonded in FIG. 20 and FIG. 21 forrespective cells and compressing a touch driver on a touch sensor unit.

FIG. 23 illustrates a top plan view of a touch sensor unit on which atouch driver is compressed in FIG. 22.

FIG. 24 illustrates a cross-sectional view for bonding a display paneland a cover window to a touch sensor unit shown in FIG. 22 and FIG. 23.

FIG. 25 illustrates a top plan view of a base polarizer according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 26 illustrates a top plan view of a touch sensor unit on which atouch driver is compressed in a process for manufacturing a displaydevice according to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings; however, they may be embodied indifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey example implementations to those skilled in the art.

In the drawings, the thickness of layers, films, panels, areas, etc.,are exaggerated for clarity. Like reference numerals designate likeelements throughout the specification. It will be understood that whenan element such as a layer, film, area, or substrate is referred to asbeing “on” another element, it can be directly on the other element orintervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an elementis referred to as being “directly on” another element, there are nointervening elements present.

Throughout this specification and the claims that follow, when it isdescribed that an element is “coupled” to another element, the elementmay be “directly coupled” to the other element or “electrically coupled”to the other element through a third element. In addition, unlessexplicitly described to the contrary, the word “comprise” and variationssuch as “comprises” or “comprising” will be understood to imply theinclusion of stated elements but not the exclusion of any otherelements.

A display device according to an example embodiment will now bedescribed with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 1, the display device 1 includes a display panel 300,a touch sensor unit 400, a polarizer 500, and a cover window 600.

The display panel 300 includes a display area (VA) for displaying animage and a peripheral area (PA) provided around the display area (VA).In the example embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the display panel 300 maydisplay the image upward.

In the display area (VA), a plurality of pixels PX and a plurality ofdisplay signal lines connected to the pixels PX and transmitting adriving signal are provided.

The display signal lines include a plurality of gate signal lines fortransmitting a gate signal and a plurality of data lines fortransmitting a data signal. The gate signal lines and the data lines maycross each other and be extended. The display signal line may beextended to a peripheral area (PA) to form a pad.

A plurality of pixels PX may be arranged in, for example, substantiallya matrix form. Each pixel PX may include at least one switching elementconnected to the gate line and the data line and at least one pixelelectrode connected thereto. The switching element may be athree-terminal element such as a thin film transistor integrated on thedisplay panel 300. The switching element is turned on or turned offaccording to the gate signal transmitted by the gate line to transmitthe data signal transmitted by the data line to the pixel electrode. Thepixel PX may further include an opposed electrode facing the pixelelectrode. The opposed electrode may transmit a common voltage. Thepixel PX may display an image with desired luminance according to thedata voltage applied to the pixel electrode.

In the case of the organic light emitting device, an emission layer maybe provided between the pixel electrode and the opposed electrode toform a light-emitting device.

In order to implement color display, each pixel may display one ofprimary colors, and a desired color may be recognized by combining theprimary colors. An example of the primary colors may include threeprimary colors or four primary colors such as red, green, blue, and thelike. Each pixel may further include a color filter positioned at aplace corresponding to each pixel electrode and expressing one of theprimary colors, and the emission layer included in the light emittingelement may emit colored light.

The touch sensor unit 400 is provided on the display panel 300.

The touch sensor unit 400 may be attached to the display panel 300 byusing an adhesive 10 a such as an optically clear adhesive (OCA), anoptically clear resin (OCR), or a pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA).

The touch sensor unit 400 may sense a contact induced by a foreignobject. In this instance, the contact includes a case in which anexternal object such as a user's finger directly touches an upper sideof the display device 1, and a hovering touch that represents a case inwhich the external object approaches the display device 1 or it movesafter it has approached it.

The touch sensor unit 400 includes a touch substrate 404 and at leastone touch electrode layer formed thereon.

The touch sensor unit 400 includes a touch sensing area (TA) for sensinga contact caused by the foreign object and a non-sensing area (DA)provided outside the same. The non-sensing area (DA) is also called adead space.

The touch substrate 404 may be a flexible film, and without beingrestricted to this, it may be a rigid substrate including glass orplastic. The touch substrate 404 is an isotropic substrate and its phasedelay value may be substantially 0 or very low. The touch substrate 404may include, for example, at least one of a cyclic olefin polymer (COP)film, a non-elongation polycarbonate (PC) film, and a triacetylcellulose (TAC) film that are isotropic films.

The touch electrode layer includes a plurality of touch electrodes 410and 420 and a plurality of touch wires 411 and 421 connected thereto.The touch electrodes 410 and 420 are mainly provided in the touchsensing area (TA), and the touch wires 411 and 421 may be provided inthe touch sensing area (TA) or the non-sensing area (DA).

The touch electrodes 410 and 420 may have predetermined transmittance sothat the light provided by the display panel 300 may pass through them.For example, the touch electrodes 410 and 420 may include at least oneof a conductive polymer, a transparent conductive material, etc. Forexample, an indium tin oxide (ITO), an indium zinc oxide (IZO), a metalnanowire, a PEDOT (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)), a metal mesh,carbon nanotubes (CNT), or a thin metal layer may be used alone or incombination.

The touch wires 411 and 421 may include a transparent conductivematerial included in the touch electrodes 410 and 420 and/or alow-resistance material such as molybdenum (Mo), silver (Ag), titanium(Ti), copper (Cu), or aluminum (Al), or molybdenum/aluminum/molybdenum(Mo/Al/Mo).

The touch wires 411 and 412 may or may not include a portion that isprovided at a same layer as the touch electrodes 410 and 420.

The touch electrodes 410 and 420 form a touch sensor for sensing thecontact in various ways. The touch sensor may use various schemesincluding a resistive type, a capacitive type, an electro-magnetic (EM)type, and an optical type. A capacitive touch sensor will be exemplifiedin the present example embodiment, but other touch sensors may be used.

Regarding the capacitive touch sensor, one of the touch electrodes 410and 420 receives a sensing input signal from the touch driver, generatesa sensing output signal that is variable by the contact of the foreignobject, and transmits the same to the touch driver.

In the case in which the touch electrodes 410 and 420 form aself-sensing capacitor with the foreign object, when the touchelectrodes 410 and 420 receive a sensing input signal, they are storedwith a predetermined amount of charges, and when a contact caused by aforeign object such as a finger is generated, the amount of chargesstored in the self-sensing capacitor is changed and a sensing outputsignal that is different from the input sensing input signal may beoutput. Contact information such as contact state or contact positionmay be acquired through the change of the sensing output signal.

When the neighboring touch electrodes 410 and 420 form a mutual-sensingcapacitor, one of the touch electrodes 410 and 420 receives a sensinginput signal from the touch driver and the mutual sensing capacitor ischarged with a predetermined amount of charges. When there is a contactinduced by the foreign object such as the finger, the amount of chargesstored in the mutual sensing capacitor is changed and the changed amountof charges is output to be a sensing output signal through the remainingtouch electrodes 410 and 420. The contact information such as contactstate or contact position may be found through the sensing outputsignal.

The present example embodiment will is described using a touch sensorforming a mutual sensing capacitor as an example.

Referring to FIG. 2, touch electrodes 410 and 420 of a touch sensoraccording to an example embodiment may include a plurality of firsttouch electrodes 410 and a plurality of second touch electrodes 420. Thefirst touch electrodes 410 are separated from the second touchelectrodes 420.

The first touch electrodes 410 and the second touch electrodes 420 maybe alternately disposed so that they may not overlap each other in thetouch sensing area (TA). The first touch electrodes 410 may be disposedin a column direction and a row direction, and the second touchelectrodes 420 may be disposed in the column direction and the rowdirection.

The first touch electrodes 410 and the second touch electrodes 420 maybe provided at the same layer, and without being restricted to this, thefirst touch electrodes 410 and the second touch electrodes 420 may beprovided at different layers from each other. When the first touchelectrodes 410 and the second touch electrodes 420 are provided at thedifferent layers, the first touch electrodes 410 and the second touchelectrodes 420 may be provided on different sides of the touch substrate404 or at different layers on a same side of the touch substrate 404.

The first touch electrodes 410 and the second touch electrodes 420 maybe quadrangular, and without being restricted to this, they may havevarious types of forms such as protrusions for the purpose of improvingsensitivity of the touch sensor.

The first touch electrodes 410 that are arranged on the same row orcolumn may be connected to or separated from each other in or out of thetouch sensing area (TA). In a like manner, at least a part of the secondtouch electrodes 420 that are arranged on the same row or column may beconnected to or separated from each other in or out of the touch sensingarea (TA). For example, as shown in FIG. 2, when the first touchelectrodes 410 disposed on the same row are connected to each other inthe touch sensing area (TA), the second touch electrodes 420 disposed onthe column may be connected to each other in the touch sensing area(TA). In detail, the first touch electrodes 410 provided on therespective rows may be connected to each other through a first connector412, and the second touch electrodes 420 provided on the respectivecolumns may be connected to each other through a second connector 422.

Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the first connector 412 for connectingthe neighboring first touch electrodes 410 may be provided at the samelayer as the first touch electrode 410, and may be formed with the samematerial as the first touch electrode 410. Thus, the first touchelectrodes 410 and the first connector 412 may be integrated and may besimultaneously patterned.

The second connector 422 for connecting the neighboring second touchelectrodes 420 may be provided at the different layer from the secondtouch electrode 420. Thus, the second touch electrodes 420 and the firstconnector 412 may be separated from each other and may be individuallypatterned. The second touch electrodes 420 and the second connector 422may be connected to each other through a direct contact.

An insulating layer 430 is provided between the first connector 412 andthe second connector 422 to insulate the first connector 412 from thesecond connector 422. As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the insulatinglayer 430 may be a plurality of independent island-type insulators thatare disposed at respective crossing points of the first connector 412and the second connector 422. The insulating layer 430 may expose atleast a part of the second touch electrode 420 so that the secondconnector 422 may be connected to the second touch electrode 420.

According to another example embodiment, the insulating layer 430 may beformed on the touch substrate 404, and the insulating layer 430 providedon part of the second touch electrode 420 may be removed for aconnection of the second touch electrode 420 neighboring in the columndirection.

Differing from FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the second connector 422 forconnecting the neighboring second touch electrodes 420 is provided atthe same layer as the first touch electrode 410 and is integrated withthe first touch electrode 410, and the first connector 412 forconnecting the neighboring first touch electrodes 410 may be provided onthe layer that is different from that of the first touch electrode 410.

Referring to FIG. 2, the first touch electrodes 410 of the respectiverows, connected to each other, are connected to a touch driver throughthe first touch wire 411, and the second touch electrodes 420 of therespective columns, connected to each other, are connected to the touchdriver through the second touch wire 421. The first touch wire 411 andthe second touch wire 421 may be provided in the non-sensing area (DA)or the touch sensing area (TA).

Ends of the first touch wire 411 and the second touch wire 421 may forma pad 450 in the non-sensing area (DA) of the touch sensor unit 400.

The first touch wire 411 may provide a sensing input signal to the firsttouch electrode 410 or may output a sensing output signal to the touchdriver through the pad 450. The second touch wire 421 may provide asensing input signal to the second touch electrode 420 or may output asensing output signal to the touch driver through the pad 450.

The touch driver controls an operation of the touch sensor. The touchdriver may transmit the sensing input signal to the touch sensor or mayreceive the sensing output signal and process the same. The touch driverprocess the sensing output signal to generate touch information such asa touch state and a touch position.

The touch driver may be mounted as at least one IC chip directly to thetouch sensor unit 400, may be installed on a flexible printed circuitfilm (FPC) or a printed circuit board and be attached as a tape carrierpackage (TCP) to the touch sensor unit 400, or may be installed on anadditional printed circuit board and be connected to the pad 450.Differing from this, the touch driver may be integrated on the touchsensor unit 400.

The first touch electrode 410 and the second touch electrode 420neighboring each other may form a mutual sensing capacitor functioningas a touch sensor. The mutual sensing capacitor may receive a sensinginput signal through one of the first touch electrode 410 and the secondtouch electrode 420, and may output a change of an amount of chargescaused by a contact of the foreign object as a sensing output signalthrough the other touch electrode.

Differing from FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, a plurality of first touch electrodes410 and a plurality of second touch electrodes 420 may be separated fromeach other, and may be connected to the touch driver through a touchwire, respectively. In this case, the respective touch electrodes 410and 420 may form self-sensing capacitors as touch sensors. Theself-sensing capacitor may receive a sensing input signal and be chargedwith a predetermined amount of charges, and when a contact is generatedby a foreign object such as a finger, it may output the sensing inputsignal that is input because of the change of the amount of storedcharges and another sensing output signal.

As described, the touch electrodes 410 and 420 provided at the samelayer on the touch substrate 404 are formed thereby reducing thethickness of the touch sensor unit 400 and also reducing the thicknessof the display device 1 including the touch sensor unit 400.Accordingly, flexibility of the flexible display device 1 that may bebent, folded, or rolled may be further increased, and the thickness ofthe touch sensor unit 400 is reduced to improve optical characteristicssuch as transmittance of images displayed by the display device 1including a touch sensor. Further, flexibility of the display device 1may be increased.

Referring to FIG. 1, a boundary of the touch sensing area (TA) and thenon-sensing area (DA) of the touch sensor unit 400 may be provided tocorrespond to the peripheral area (PA) of the display panel 300 or maybe provided to correspond to the boundary between the peripheral area(PA) and the display area (VA). Thus, an edge side of the touch sensingarea (TA) may be aligned with an edge side of the display area (VA) ormay be provided on an external side thereof. An external edge side ofthe non-sensing area (DA) may be provided, for example, outside anexternal edge side of the peripheral area (PA) of the display panel 300.

The touch wire 411 or 421 that is nearest the touch sensing area (TA)from among the touch wires 411 and 421 provided in the non-sensing area(DA) of the touch sensor unit 400 may be electrically and physicallyconnected to one of the touch electrodes 410 and 420. According to anexample embodiment, an internal edge side of the touch wire 411 or 421that is close to the touch sensing area (TA) may correspond to theboundary between the touch sensing area (TA) and the non-sensing area(DA).

A polarizer 500 is provided on the touch sensor unit 400. The polarizer500 may be provided on the touch sensor unit 400 through an adhesivesuch as OCA, OCR, or PSA. Therefore, a touch electrode layer of thetouch sensor unit 400 may be provided between the polarizer 500 and thetouch substrate 404.

The polarizer 500 may be a flexible film. The polarizer 500 may includepolyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and at least one support member may be attachedto respective sides of the polarizer 500. The support member may includetriacetyl cellulose (TAC), cellulous acetate propionate (CAP), and wideview-TAC (WV-TAC). An adhesive may be formed on one side of thepolarizer 500.

The polarizer 500 may prevent external light that is reflected fromelectrodes or wires included in the display panel 300 and the touchsensor unit 400 from being viewed. Thus, the light that is input intothe display device 1 from the outside is passed through the polarizer500, is reflected from an electrode or a wire provided below the same,and is input to the polarizer 500 and generates destructive interferencewith the light that is input to the polarizer 500 from the outside, andit may not be visible from the outside.

The polarizer 500 may be a circular polarizer, and in this case it mayinclude a linear polarizer and a quarter-wave plate.

The polarizer 500 is provided to an observer and the touch sensor unit400 is attached below the same according to an example embodiment so thelight reflected from the pattern such as the touch electrode or thetouch wire of the touch sensor unit 400 is not viewable by the outsideobserver.

The polarizer 500 may include a compressor hole for exposing the pad 450of the touch sensor unit 400.

A cover window 600 may be further provided on the polarizer 500. Thecover window 600 made be made of an insulating material such as plasticor glass. The cover window 600 may be flexible or rigid. A surface ofthe cover window 600 may be a touch side of the display device 1 to becontacted by the foreign object.

The cover window 600 may be attached to the polarizer 500 by using anadhesive 10 b such as OCA, OCR, or PSA.

A light blocking member 601 may be provided on an edge on a bottom sideof the cover window 600. The light blocking member 601 may expose thedisplay area (VA) or the touch sensing area (TA) of the display panel300, and may cover at least a part of the peripheral area (PA) and atleast a part of the non-sensing area (DA) so that they may be invisiblefrom the outside.

Referring to FIG. 1, an internal edge side of the blocking area (BA) inwhich the light blocking member 601 is formed is aligned with theboundary between the non-sensing area (DA) and the touch sensing area(TA) of the touch sensor unit 400, but is not restricted thereto. Thus,the internal edge side of the blocking area (BA) may be provided to afurther internal side of the internal edge side of the non-sensing area(DA). In this case, the internal edge side of the blocking area (BA) maybe provided in the touch sensing area (TA).

The polarizer 500 is provided to the side of the external observer andthe touch sensor unit 400 is attached to the same so that the patternsuch as the touch electrode or the touch wire of the touch sensor unit400 is invisible to the external observer according to an exampleembodiment. Thus, there is no need for the light blocking member 601 toentirely cover the touch wires 411 and 412 of the touch sensor unit 400.

In a general device, a light blocking member may be formed to furtherinternal sides of the internal edge sides of the touch wires so that thetouch wires may not be visible from lateral sides. In contrast,according to an example embodiment, the touch wires 411 and 412 areinvisible even when not covered by the light blocking member 601 so awidth of the light blocking member 601 may be further reduced, and thenon-sensing area (DA) in which the touch wires 411 and 412 are notformed and which is covered by the light blocking member 601 may beremoved, thereby further reducing the width of the non-sensing area(DA).

Further, the position of the area in which the touch wires 411 and 412are formed has no limits so the freedom of design may be increased.Thus, the internal edge side of the area in which the touch wires 411and 412 are formed may be formed to digress from the blocking area (BA)and further approach the display area (VA). Accordingly, the bezel ofthe display device 1 may be made narrower to gain design competition.

According to an example embodiment, the edge side of the touch sensorunit 400 and the edge side of the polarizer 500 are aligned andcorrespond to each other one by one. For example, the touch sensor unit400 and the polarizer 500 may be formed by bonding them together andcutting them together. Accordingly, a margin for the tolerance forbonding the touch sensor unit 400 and the polarizer 500 is not needed.

In the example embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the edge sides of the bondedtouch sensor unit 400 and the polarizer 500 are provided on the furtherexternal side of the edge side of the display panel 300, and withoutbeing restricted to this, the tolerance for bonding the touch sensorunit 400 and the polarizer 500 is removed so the area of the non-sensingarea (DA) of the touch sensor unit 400 may be reduced and the edge sidesof the touch sensor unit 400 and the polarizer 500 may be provided to beon a further internal side of the edge side of the display panel 300.Thus, the touch sensor unit 400 and the polarizer 500 may be providedinside the edge side of the display panel 300. Accordingly, the blockingarea (BA) of the cover window 600 may be further reduced so the bezel ofthe display device 1 may be further reduced.

The light blocking member 601 may cover the edge side of the displaypanel 300.

A display device according to an example embodiment will now bedescribed with reference to FIG. 5 together with the above-describeddrawings.

Referring to FIG. 5, the display device 1 according to an exampleembodiment generally corresponds to the example embodiment describedwith reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, and an area in which the touch wires411 and 412 are formed may include an area (A) that is not covered bythe light blocking member 601 but digresses from the blocking area (BA).Thus, part of the non-sensing area (DA) may digress from the blockingarea (BA).

FIG. 5 illustrates a case in which the touch sensor unit 400 and thepolarizer 500 are provided inside the edge side of the display panel300. As described above, when the touch sensor unit 400 and thepolarizer 500 are bonded with each other, are then cut together, and areformed in the process for manufacturing the display device 1, thetolerance for bonding the touch sensor unit 400 and the polarizer 500 isnot needed and the area in which the touch wires 411 and 412 are formedmay be reduced. Compared to the above-described example embodiment, whenthe touch wires 411 and 412 are formed with a finer pattern, the area ofthe non-sensing area (DA) may be further reduced.

Accordingly, the blocking area (BA) of the cover window 600 may befurther reduced to further reduce the bezel of the display device 1.

A display device according to an example embodiment will now bedescribed with reference to FIG. 6 together with the above-describeddrawings.

Referring to FIG. 6, the display device 1 according to an exampleembodiment generally corresponds to the example embodiment describedwith reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, and a configuration of the touchsensor unit 400 may be different. In detail, a touch electrode layerincluding touch electrodes 410 and 420 may be provided below a touchsubstrate 404 of the touch sensor unit 400. The touch electrode layer ofthe touch sensor unit 400 may be provided between the display panel 300and the touch substrate 404.

According to the present example embodiment, compared to theabove-described example embodiment, the positions of the touchelectrodes 410 and 420 included in the touch electrode layer may beprovided near the display panel 300, and the positions of the touchelectrodes 410 and 420 may be provided near a neutral plane of thedisplay device 1 when the neutral plane is provided downward withrespect to the touch substrate 404. Here, the neutral plane may signifya position where a strain becomes substantially zero. Accordingly,deformation applied to the touch electrodes 410 and 420 when theflexible display device 1 is bent or folded may be reduced to reduce thefault such as cutting of the touch electrodes 410 and 420.

A method for manufacturing a display device 1 including a touch sensoraccording to an example embodiment will now be described with referenceto FIG. 7 through FIG. 24 together with the above-described drawings.

Referring to FIG. 7, a conductive layer is formed on a mother substrate401 such as a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) film, a non-elongationpolycarbonate (PC) film, or a triacetyl cellulose (TAC) film. Theconductive layer may include a first conductive layer 41 and a secondconductive layer 43 that are sequentially stacked, but is not limitedthereto. In this case, the first conductive layer 41 may include atransparent conductive material such as ITO or IZO, and the secondconductive layer 43 may include a metal material such as aluminum (Al).

Referring to FIG. 8, the mother substrate 401 on which the conductivelayer is formed may include a plurality of cells. Each cell representsan area in which a touch sensor unit 400 to be included in a displaydevice 1 is formed. A distance between neighboring cells on the mothersubstrate 401 may be, for example, about 2 mm to 3 mm.

Referring to FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the first conductive layer 41 and thesecond conductive layer 43 are patterned to form a first intermediatepattern 410P, a second intermediate pattern 420P, a second connectionpattern 422P, and a first touch wire 411 and a second touch wire 421connected to the first intermediate pattern 410P and the secondintermediate pattern 420P. Forms of the first intermediate pattern 410Pand the second intermediate pattern 420P may correspond to those of theabove-described first touch electrode 410 and the second touch electrode420.

The second intermediate pattern 420P provided on the same column isprovided at the same layer as the second intermediate pattern 420P, andthey may be connected to each other through the patterned secondconnection pattern 422P. Differing from this, the first intermediatepattern 410P provided on the same row may be connected thereto throughan additional first connection pattern.

Referring to FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, the second conductive layer 43 that isan upper layer of the first intermediate pattern 410P, the secondintermediate pattern 420P, and the second connection pattern 422P isremoved through an etching method to form a plurality of transparentfirst touch electrodes 410, a plurality of second touch electrodes 420,and a plurality of second connectors 422. Differing from this, when thefirst touch electrode 410 arranged on the same column is connected tothe first connector 412 provided at the same layer, the first connector412 may be formed instead of the second connector 422.

The first touch wire 411 and the second touch wire 421 may include thefirst conductive layer 41 and the second conductive layer 43 to form alow-resistance wire.

Referring to FIG. 13 and FIG. 14, an insulating material is stacked andpatterned on the first touch electrode 410, the second touch electrode420, the second connector 422, and the touch wire to form an insulatinglayer 430 provided on the second connector 422 and covering the secondconnector 422.

Referring to FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, a conductive material is stacked andpatterned on the insulating layer 430 to form a first connector 412crossing the second connector 422 in an insulated manner and connectingthe first touch electrodes 410 neighboring on one row. Hence, aplurality of cells, including a plurality of touch sensors configuredwith the first touch electrode 410 and the second touch electrode 420,is provided on the mother substrate 401.

Referring to FIG. 17, the mother substrate 401 on which a plurality oftouch sensors is formed may be cut into a plurality of base substrates.For example, substantially four base substrates may be made out of onemother substrate 401. The tolerance at the time of cutting may be, forexample ±0.3 mm. The respective base substrates that are cut may includea plurality of cells. Differing from the present example embodiment, themother substrate 401 may not be cut depending on the size of the basepolarizer to be attached.

Referring to FIG. 18, a protection film 42 may be attached to a rearside of a cut base substrate 402.

Referring to FIG. 19, when a base polarizer 502 including a supportmember such as PVA and TAC is provided, at least one compressor hole 52may be formed. A touch driver in a form of a flexible printed circuitfilm may be compressed through the compressor hole 52. A top-down widthd1 of the compressor hole 52 may be greater than about 1 mm. Thecompressor holes 52 corresponding to the cells arranged in a horizontaldirection may be connected to each other.

Referring to FIG. 20 and FIG. 21, the base substrate 402 on which thetouch sensor is formed and the base polarizer 502 are bonded. In thisinstance, the base polarizer 502 and the base substrate 402 may bebonded through an adhesive formed on a lower side of the base polarizer502. As described above, when the size of the base polarizer 502corresponds to the mother substrate 401, the mother substrate 401 onwhich the touch sensor is formed and the base polarizer 502 may bebonded.

A touch electrode layer such as a touch electrode and a touch wire maybe provided between the base polarizer 502 and the base substrate 402.However, differing from this, the touch electrode layer may be providednot between the base polarizer 502 and the base substrate 402 but on alower side of the base substrate 402.

The compressor hole 52 of the base polarizer 502 may expose ends of thetouch wires 411 and 421, that is, a pad.

The bonded base substrate 402 and the base polarizer 502 are cut intocells to manufacture the touch sensor unit 400 and the polarizer 500bonded for each cell. Since the touch sensor unit 400 and the polarizer500 are cut one by one while bonded together, a bonding tolerance may bereduced. Therefore, the area of the non-sensing area (DA) of the touchsensor unit 400 may be further reduced, and the bezel area of thedisplay device 1 may be further reduced as described.

One edge of the touch sensor unit 400 of each cell may be exposed by thecompressor hole 52 of the polarizer 500, as shown in FIG. 23.

Referring to FIG. 22 and FIG. 23, a touch driver 700 for driving thetouch sensor is compressed on the touch sensor unit 400 through thecompressor hole 52. To prevent the base polarizer 502 from being damagedby the heat when the touch driver 700 is compressed, a compressionposition of the touch driver 700 may be distanced from the end of thebase polarizer 502 with a gap of about 1 mm to 1.5 mm, but is notlimited thereto. For this purpose, the top-down width d1 of thecompressor hole 52 of the base polarizer 502 is greater than the gap.

The touch driver 700 may be compressed as at least one IC chip on thetouch sensor unit 400 or may be mounted on a flexible printed circuitfilm (FPC) and compressed as a TCP on the touch sensor unit 400.Differing from this, the touch driver 700 may be installed on anadditional printed circuit board so that the printed circuit board maybe connected to the touch sensor unit 400 through the compressor hole52.

Referring to FIG. 24, the display panel 300 is bonded to a bottom of thetouch sensor unit 400 and a cover window 600 is bonded to a top of thepolarizer 500 to manufacture the display device 1 according to anexample embodiment.

A method for manufacturing a display device according to an exampleembodiment will now be described with reference to FIG. 25 and FIG. 26together with described FIG. 7 to FIG. 24

Like constituent elements as the described example embodiment will havelike reference numerals and descriptions thereof may not be repeated.

Referring to FIG. 25 and FIG. 26, the method for manufacturing a displaydevice according to an example embodiment generally corresponds to themanufacturing method according to the example embodiment described withreference to FIG. 7 to FIG. 23, and a form of the base polarizer 502 maybe different.

Referring to FIG. 25, compressor holes 53 formed to correspond to thecells may not be connected to each other but may be separated from eachother. The top-down width d2 of the compressor hole 53 may be greaterthan about 1 mm.

Referring to FIG. 26, while the touch sensor unit 400 and the polarizer500 are bonded together for each cell, the touch driver 700 may becompressed on and connected to the touch sensor unit 400 through thecompressor hole 53.

By way of summation and review, when a heavy and fragile glass substrateis used as a display panel of the display device, there is a limit inportability and display screen size thereof. Accordingly, considerationhas been given to a flexible display device using a plastic substrate,which is light, strong against an impact, and flexible, as a substrateof a display panel.

Such as a display device may include a touch sensing function in whichinteraction with a user may be performed, in addition to a function ofdisplaying the image. The touch sensing function may be used to findcontact information such as whether an object approaches or touches ascreen and a touch location thereof by sensing changes in pressure,charges, light, and the like which are applied to the screen by thedisplay device, when the user writes text or draws figures byapproaching or touching the screen using a finger or a touch pen. Thedisplay device may receive an image signal based on the contactinformation to display an image.

Such a touch sensing function may be implemented through a touch sensor.The touch sensor may be classified into various types such as aresistive type, a capacitive type, an electro-magnetic (EM) type, and anoptical type.

The capacitive touch sensor may include a plurality of touch electrodesfor transmitting a detection signal. The touch electrode may form asensing capacitor with another touch electrode (called amutual-capacitor type) or a sensing capacitor with a foreign object(called a self-capacitor type). When a conductor such as a fingerapproaches the touch sensor or contacts it, capacitance of the sensingcapacitor or an amount of stored charges is varied, from which a contactstate and a contact position may be found.

A plurality of touch electrodes may be disposed in a touch sensing areain which a contact may be sensed, and they may be connected to aplurality of signal transfer wires for transmitting the detectionsignal. The signal transfer wires may be provided in the touch sensingarea or may be disposed in a non-sensing area that is provided aroundthe touch sensing area. The signal transfer wires may transmit a sensinginput signal to the touch electrode or may transmit a sensing outputsignal of the touch electrode generated by a touch to a sensing signalcontroller.

The touch sensor may be installed in the display device (i.e., anin-cell type) or may be directly formed on an outer side of the displaydevice (i.e., an on-cell type), or an additional touch sensor may beattached to the display device (i.e., an add-on cell type). A flexibledisplay device may use a method for forming a film on which a touchsensor is formed or an additional film-type touch sensor and attachingthe same to the display panel (i.e., the add-on cell type).

When the touch sensor is a mutual-capacitor type touch sensor includingan input touch electrode for receiving a sensing input signal and anoutput touch electrode for transmitting a sensing output signal, thetouch sensor may be formed by forming the input touch electrode and theoutput touch electrode on another insulation film and bonding them. Inthis case, the touch sensor may include at least two sheets of films.When the touch sensor attached to the display panel includes a pluralityof sheets of films, the display device is further thickened and itstransmittance is deteriorated.

As described above, embodiments may reduce a thickness of a displaydevice including an attachable touch sensor, and may increasetransmittance of light transmitting through the touch sensor.

Embodiments may increase transmittance and flexibility by reducing anentire thickness of a flexible display device.

Embodiments may allow a narrow bezel and acquire design competition byreducing a peripheral non-sensing area in which no touch is sensed in adisplay device including a touch sensor.

Embodiments may reduce a tolerance needed to bond a touch sensor and apolarizer and reduce a peripheral area of a display panel to narrow abezel.

According to an example embodiment, the thickness of the display deviceincluding an attachable touch sensor is reduced, transmittance of thelight passing through the touch sensor is increased, and the entirethickness of the flexible display device is reduced to increasetransmittance and flexibility.

In the display device including a touch sensor, the peripheralnon-sensing area in which the touch is not sensed may be reduced.Further, the tolerance is reduced when the display panel and the touchsensor are bonded, the peripheral area of the display panel is reducedso the bezel of the display device may be reduced and design competitionmay be obtained.

Example embodiments have been disclosed herein, and although specificterms are employed, they are used and are to be interpreted in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purpose of limitation. In someinstances, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art asof the filing of the present application, features, characteristics,and/or elements described in connection with a particular embodiment maybe used singly or in combination with features, characteristics, and/orelements described in connection with other embodiments unless otherwisespecifically indicated. Accordingly, it will be understood by those ofskill in the art that various changes in form and details may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention asset forth in the following claims.

1.-24. (canceled)
 25. A display device, comprising: a display panelincluding a plurality of pixels; a touch sensor unit provided on thedisplay panel, and including a touch sensing area in which a touchsensor is provided; and a polarizer provided on the touch sensor unit,wherein the touch sensor unit includes a first portion having a firstedge and a second portion having a second edge in a plan view, the firstedge being connected to the second edge in the plan view, the firstportion overlaps the polarizer, and the first edge of the first portionis aligned with a third edge of the polarizer in the plan view, and thesecond portion does not overlap the polarizer, and the second edge ofthe second portion is not aligned with a fourth edge of the polarizer inthe plan view.